Half of Western Lowland Gorillas May Vanish by 2040. Here's How We Can Prevent That. (Op-Ed)

By Fiona Maisels, Samantha Strindberg and Liz Williamson | May 2, 2018 01:28pm ET

Fiona Maisels and Samantha Strindberg are conservation scientists who work with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to save great apes, elephants and other wild animals. Liz Williamson is a fellow at the University of Stirling, in Scotland, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List authority coordinator for great apes. The authors contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

The first time one of us (Fiona Maisels) came face-to-face with a gorilla, in 1988, the animal shouted loudly and repeatedly charged within a few feet of her for half an hour. It felt like an eternity. The research station director, Caroline Tutin, had given sage advice: "If charged, stand, avoid eye contact, stay calm and pretend to eat leaves until the silverback (mature male) is convinced you are a harmless, herbivorous visitor to his home."

Back in camp, Tutin said, "You see? Nothing happened." In fact, it was an unforgettable week at Lopé National Park in Gabon that included a first glimpse of a western lowland gorilla family. A young gorilla was trying to beat her chest like the adults did but had not yet learned the trick; she failed to make the distinctive pok-pok-pok-pok sound, or indeed any sound at all. [See photos of great apes living in the African forest]

Read on  

Endangered Gorilla Gives Birth at Philadelphia Zoo

By Kacey Deamer, Staff Writer | June 8, 2017 06:07pm ET

It's a boy! The Philadelphia Zoo recently welcomed a new addition to its gorilla family, with the help of doctors who normally treat humans.

A gorilla labor is typically quick and does not cause distress to the mother, according to zoo officials. However, zookeepers noticed that first-time mom Kira's labor was not progressing in normal fashion. When the 17-year-old western lowland gorilla grew tired and showed symptoms of feeling unwell, the zoo brought in veterinarians and other medical professionals to assist in the delivery using tools and procedures that are standard in human births. (Human and gorilla physiology is very similar.)

The team succesfully delivered the as-yet-unnamed baby gorilla, a healthy 5-pound (2 kilograms) boy, on Friday, June 2. 

"Our veterinary team had an advance plan in place that had us prepared for scenarios like this — and in this case that plan, and the skill of our keeper team, enabled a safe delivery for both Kira and her baby," Andy Baker, the Philadelphia Zoo's chief operating officer, said in a statement. "It was an anxious and dramatic day at the Zoo, but in the end a tremendously rewarding one."

The baby gorilla's birth is also cause for celebration for the critically endangered western lowland gorilla population. Poaching, disease and habitat loss led the global populations in the wild to drop of more than 80 percent over three generations, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Continued 

Bobby: the gorilla on the wrong side of the law

 The western lowland gorilla was smuggled from Africa to Italy in the 1980s. As taxidermy, he is part of a new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland

 

Henry Nicholls

Monday 28 November 2016 07.02 GMT

Name: Bobby
Species: Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)
Dates: 1983-2008
Claim to fame: Much-loved zoo animal
Where now: National Museum of Scotland

In 1994, magistrates from the Italian province of Ancona found the manager of a local circus guilty of importing a gorilla into the country. Bobby (variously also known as Bongo, Bongo III and Bongo Junior) had been captured as a baby in Equatorial Guinea more than a decade earlier and is thought to have been brought to Italy soon afterwards as “a chimpanzee”.

Either way – gorilla or chimpanzee – the transportation of Bobby was in direct contravention of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international agreement signed in Washington D.C. in 1973 and eventually ratified by Italy in 1979. CITES binds parties to pass appropriate national legislation to allow its implementation, but it took the Italian Parliament until 1992 to do this (Legge 7 Febbraio 1992, n. 150, if you must know). It was only then that the Italian authorities were in a position “to penalize trade in, or possession of, such specimens,” and “to provide the confiscation or return to the State of export of such specimens.” 

“The Italian Parliament took thirteen years, one month and 22 days to translate into Italian the Latin expression nulla poena sine lege,” quipped professor of international law Tullio Scovazzi in the European Environmental Law Review. 

Bobby was confiscated from the circus, but instead of being repatriated to Equatorial Guinea ended up under the custodianship of the Giardino Zoologico di Roma. There, he lived alongside Romana, a female gorilla of a similar age that had been born in captivity in 1980. According to a history of gorillas at Rome Zoo, Bobby’s new situation resulted in “a considerable improvement both in the physical aspect and the behavioural profile.” When the “ape house” finally closed in 2000 and became a restaurant, Bobby and Romana moved to Bristol Zoo. 

Continued 

Gorillas reintroduced into Congo & Gabon are thriving

The reintroduction of western lowland gorillas by The Aspinall Foundation to areas of Africa where they have been hunted to extinction appears to be working, according to a scientific study.

October 2013. The Aspinall Foundation's reintroduction of western lowland gorillas to areas of Africa where they have been hunted to extinction appears to be working, according to a new scientific study. 

Critically Endangered

Western lowland gorillas are classified by the World Conservation Union as Critically Endangered, based on a projected 80% decline in the wild over just three generations, ranking them alongside the most threatened species on the planet. Reintroduction of gorillas to protected areas from where they have previously been exterminated is still considered controversial, but a pioneering, long-term programme to do just that is starting to show it may be possible after all.

Continued

Anti-social Dallas Zoo gorilla being shown door

DALLAS (AP) — There will be no rose ceremony for a 430-pound bachelor gorilla that failed to form any meaningful relationships with fellow apes during an 18-year stay at the Dallas Zoo.

Patrick, the 23-year-old Western lowland gorilla known for being gregarious with zoo staff and the public, while being ambivalent toward his female counterparts, has been handed his walking papers. The silverback will be transferred to the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, S.C. where he'll be allowed more solitude, according to a statement issued Monday by the Dallas Zoo.

"It's become clear that he prefers to live a solitary life," said Dr. Lynn Kramer, head veterinarian at the Dallas Zoo. "This move will allow Patrick to continue to thrive while creating an opportunity for our four remaining males to form a cohesive bachelor group."

Patrick was born at the Bronx Zoo in New York City in April 1990, but maternal neglect forced him to be moved to the Toronto Zoo where he was hand-raised with another male his own age. Both gorillas arrived in Dallas at age 5 and were integrated into a small troop of one silverback and two females, before being removed to form a bachelor group together.

Despite his affability with humans and his popularity in zoo presentations about gorillas, zoo officials said Patrick's reaction toward female apes has ranged from indifference to aggression.

No move date was announced for Patrick, a gorilla Kramer described as extremely intelligent and adept at using tools. A two-day bon-voyage celebration at the Dallas Zoo will be held Saturday and Sunday.

Patrick's departure will leave the Dallas Zoo with six gorillas.

http://news.yahoo.com/anti-social-dallas-zoo-gorilla-being-shown-door-222925310.html